30 Days

There are (potentially) thirty days left in Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle’s political career.

Keep in mind that when the whole recall business started, the CW amongst the recallers was that IF they could get to this point, the recall was in the bag.

Yep, in the bag.

Because the CW is, the only real motivated people who will vote on Janurary 25th are those that want Suttle out. Those that really want him in? Well, they will probably go vote. Maybe.

In any case, one of the big factors will be how much case each side decides to spend and how.

For the Recallers part, it is not clear how much more the Mayor Suttle Recall Committee will be involved. Keep in mind that David Nabity was their chief fund-raiser at the end and he has split from the group.

Nabity has a different pro-Recall group now, Citizens for Omaha’s Future. And it looks like they will have the main thrust in the pro-recall movement.

But on the Mayor’s side, he has his old election committee, apparently re-fired up. Then there is Forward Omaha — still led by a Creighton Law student?

OK, that’s a little out of context, but still, look for Suttle to compare himself to Tom Osborne, Bob Devaney, Johnny Rosenblatt, Moses and Odysseus over the next thirty days. Anyone, anything, as long as you’ll come out and vote for him! (“That Wiggle that sleeps too much? Sure, I can be him!”)

“Hopefully I will have enough things in place that the concepts we have done will stay there and will be followed.”

You got that next Mayor? Jim Suttle would like you to follow the “concepts that he has done”. Because THAT’s what pro-recall voters were looking for, right?

And look for Suttle to keep beating the drum that you aren’t allowed to recall him for just any reason. Suttle again went to reporters with the he has “done nothing criminally wrong to warrant a recall”.

Really? We must have missed that bank that Mike Boyle robbed back when he was recalled. Or frankly, any such language in the state statutes talking about reasons that an elected offical can be recalled.

Suttle is an engineer. (Did you know that? Has he mentioned that before?) So he will tell you that he identifies the problem, seeks the solution, then puts them together. Of course don’t count on Suttle to add creativity, nuance, innovation, or political acumen to that equation. That would be expecting just a little much from the simple engineer.

Thirty days can be a lifetime in politics.

And in terms of Suttle’s political survival, that may very well be exactly the case.

37 comments

Mayor Suttle claims that he restored the city’s bond raiting back to Aaa. In an article from the Omaha World Herald from May 8th “The higher rating doesn’t mean the city’s finances are healthier. In fact, just this week, city officials announced that the 2010 general fund shortfall was larger than projected. Instead, Omaha’s rating improved only because the rating agency changed its grading scale.” So remember when Mayor Suttle tells you his accomplishments he seems to take credit for things that he didn’t actually do.

Ole’ Mayor Jim’s game plan: have a toboggan ticker-tape parade, get Lucas to invite Benedict XVI, and shake hands with the folks at the Holy Name Fish Fry.

Oh, wait—that’s unrealistic and impossible. The fish fry isn’t until Lent. Audible–check down to game plan 2. Just get Benedict XVI into town while we take a look at the Intercessors of the Lamb properties.

It’s going to be a wonderful 30 days for Omaha media and advertising sales beyond the usual post-holiday markdown ads, etc. I almost….note remote almost…feel sorry for Mayor Moron. He’s so inept that he can’t stay out of his own way. About the only chance he has…and that’s a huge stretch…is if he’d keep his mouth shut for 30 days and leave all the communications to others. That has even less of a chance of happening than the Mayor staying in office. I hope his over-paid and under-qualified staff didn’t overdo on the Christmas spending since they will likely be unemployed in just a few months. It’s got to be tough going into a new year and know for certain you’re going to be losing your job early in 2011 because your boss is an incompetent tone-deaf moron.

Will the recall people and Dave Nabity have the guts to put forward their own budget plan? Will they inform the Omaha voters about the tough choices that will have to be made to reduce spending? If the recall people don’t have a plan, they don’t deserve to prevail.

It’s funny to see that Pete Festersen will be the Dems sacrificial lamb in the mayoral election. The R’s are ready to hit him with all of Fahey’s negatives and blame him for this mess. Your political career was nice while it lasted Pete.

The guys at McFly’s are the reason suttle is going down. Nervy of you to admit you suckered the Omaha Taxpayer. You don’t have to rub our noses in it. We already know you abused the public trust. Oh, and by the way, get that firefighter image off of the front door of McFly’s. It is obscene to use a trusted public image to advertise ownership of that dump.

Suttle has 1 strategy in mind to keep his job: Convince voters that HE is the victim of the recall petitioners, who should just give the poor buy a chance to do his job! He wants everyone to mistakenly think “high crimes & misdemeanors” must be committed before a recall is justified. That is not the case under NE law. He is in bed with the public employee unions and conspiring to give them generous contract terms in exchange for political support. He promised tax cuts and then raised them. His effort to balance the budget without tax cuts was a 2 week campaign of threats to close the libraries and swimming pools. What a pathetic liar.
Dim Jim’s should stop complaining about how hard he’s working for us, and go quietly. But his ego won’t let that happen.

What politician in Omaha would ever put the people before their ego? There is a long and proud tradition of individuals prior to Suttle that only helped the people when it was a byproduct of them getting theirs. Heck who can blame them when so few citizens show up and vote? Omaha got what they deserved. Both parties manipulate the system to further their ends. IF there was an elected person who put the people first they would have long been denounced by the political machine and drummed out of office. Nope you all got what you deserved. Now you will see the battle between the parties and then it will be back to business as usual.

Don’t count your Chickens before they Hatch. Mayor Moron isn’t done just yet but the odds maybe against him… All depends on who is going to pony up the $$$ to try to save his lame A with another lying ad campaign. Something like; Visual: Stock shots of Mayor Moron about town. VO: “Retain Mayor Jimmy Suttle! He LOVES OMAHA!!” Booting him now will just cause more problems in City Hall and We will ALL PAY for that in the End!” Omaho’s, why not be SENSIBLE & let him serve his term, after all he can’t screw things up much more and it’s soo costly to run these stupid elections anyway, isn’t it? After all, your Mayors are just PUPPETS of the RICH Back Boys anyway!!!” tag line: “BE SENSIBLE OMAHA, RETAIN MAYOR SUTTLE”. Then an end shot of Suttle with a stupid grin saying; “And that ain’t SUTTLE!” FO. Just who was the idiot that came up with that bit for Suttle’s TV campaign. Real HEE HAW mentality here about I guess???

People that think the next mayor will automatically be a Republican are getting ahead of themselves. This recall campaign did not go according to plan, and there is a dark cloud hanging over the soon-to-be result. The creditibilty of any Republican candidate that is even the least bit associated with the recall has been tarnished, whether they deserve it or not. There a lot of people like me – not sad to see Suttle go, but not willing to reward the tactics of the recall campaign by voting for their candidate(s). Republican contenders will have a serious PR problem to overcome.

With this election format, the race appears to be wide open. If Democrats can work together to select one strong candidate to pit against the clusterf@&k of Republican candidates, we could see a majority vote.

And did I miss something? Did Festersen officially throw his hat into the ring? I’ve been out of town…

Doesnt the election depend on who will turnout for the vote? If this is true then won’t the Unions dictate who will be the next mayor. Voter turnout is historically low for any mayor’s race but now an ugly recall in the dead of winter wont help matters. So who can either organize quickly or HAS an organization will be driving the Mayoral Bus. Like or leave it, but the bane of Omaha’s existence is/are Unions.

Icon, I take it you were angered when the big-money boy’s hired the out-of-stater to do the petitions, including an expert at working around the law by lying about how people are paid and encouraging people to not read everything all in the name of getting as many signatures as possible. Right? Aspen’s man was from Virginia.

Hagel just shows himself to be the tool that he always was and RINO extraordinaire. He’s much more interested in being applauded from the Left than having any actual principles. Why he thinks anyone other than Don Walton give a rat’s patootie what he and Gary Hart think about anything is a real puzzle, yet good for a laugh.

As for Nelson, he and Hagel are obviously cut from the same cloth: yearning for the heady days when they could sell America down the river with moderate Republicans providing political cover.

I have to laugh at the anti-recallers on this board. Somehow you think people are going to be outraged by the nefarious and under-handed coup that is the recall. Of course, the judge didn’t see it that way, but whatever. I don’t hear Omahans talk one way or another about the recall except for about 5 people who post here. Suttle is in big trouble. There are 28,000 people who took the time to sign the recall petition. In addition, every homeowner in Omaha just got their tax bills this month and got to see Suttle’s performance up close and personal. The only people who are going to show up are the ones truly ticked at Suttle…and the 5 supporters he has from LS. You need to start working on who you’re going to back for mayor.

Now before you hit submit to flame me, keep in mind that I am against the recall and have said so many times. I think you should have to pay for your apathy and stupid votes. Suttle’s incompetency as a leader was hiding in plain sight. His lies on the campaign trail were ridiculously easy to spot. Omaha is lucky that Nebraska statutes allow for a do-over.

It appears to me that whatever strategy he tries at this point is too little too late. I have to agree with those such as MacDaddy that the bulk of the voters who will take the trouble to vote will be those who want Suttle out. Right or wrong many of the people I have talked to were angry about him not taking a firmer stance with regards to the audit (or lack of it) of the OFD. The perception was that he brushed it aside and didn’t know how to deal with it. They felt it made him look ignorant and weak. Even though I voted for Daub I do have some empathy for him however I don’t feel he will be able to overcome this recall. But what do I know?

Congratulations on your new location Street Sweeper. Even though I am probably the least politically knowledgeable here, I enjoy the site tremendously and try my best to read between the lines on some of the inside stuff. And for future reference, those of you who have definite party loyalties – as a registered Independent I can be swayed (sometimes with just a beer).

“Suttle is an engineer. (Did you know that? Has he mentioned that before?) So he will tell you that he identifies the problem, seeks the solution, then puts them together. Of course don’t count on Suttle to add creativity, nuance, innovation, or political acumen to that equation. That would be expecting just a little much from the simple engineer.”

Why don’t politicians use Occam’s razor? A lot of us out here in Omahaland view the budget as a math problem, not a test of competing economic theories. Fahey’s deferral of pension obligations could be called creative, but the result has been horrible. How nuanced has the recall campaign been? I thought Suttle’s budget director hire was more creative than building another stadium, but what did that get him but more abuse! (and none of you recall enthusiasts has answered my question about what a good budget director should get paid. Are you going to get a UNO accounting student?)
Political acumen. Can’t argue the point. But all the political acumen in the world is not going to change the numbers on the city’s books. The next Republican wonder-boy that Nabity, Ricketts and Simmons trots out better remember that.

Just a quick reply to Anti Union. Around Labor Day, the OWH ran an article quoting Terry Moore, head of Omaha’s AFL-CIO. Moore said that current membershp was about 35,000 down from 55,000 ten years earlier. That means current union members only slightly outnumber petition signers. You can quit blaming the Unions for all your problems now. Some of them may be caused by non-union citizens. Maybe even Republicans! Who knew?!

To Omaha Independent: I’ll quit blaming the unions for Omaha’s $400+ billion pension shortfall when the Police and Fire union bosses stop running attack ads against Mayoral and Council candidates that seek accountability from them.
Since that will never happen, I don’t expect to stop pointing out that the unions (and complicit Mayor like Fahey & Suttle) got us into this mess.

OI- wasn’t the point more about the Unions being organized and therefore holding an advantage? Nothing said about the Union being the root of evil. Need to back down and relax a bit.

There will be enough stress when redistricting is worked on. With Vile Kyle putting out clap trap about there “May” be up to 3 seats moved towards Metro area’s at the expense of the rest of the state. Now THAT would be a show to watch!

So on the NADC website, it looks like Forward Omaha received funds from the Suttle mayoral campaign funds. But the Suttle For Mayor filing was updated but doesnt show non individual contributions, nor expenditures. Could someone explain? Is there a way to hide donors through the Mayor campaign funds?

1. Have the Mayor do his own talking. Nobody wants to hear from you. Or Vince Powers. Or Brad Ashford.

So, the rest of this is addressed to the Mayor. But you should affirm for him it’s all a good idea.

2. Admit your missteps. One of the reasons people are so furious is they perceive the adminstration to be arrogant – – as if WE are all wrong and this is about sour grapes or the momentum of the Tea Party or revenge or all about taxes. It’s not. Take some responsibility for things you could have done differently.

3. Start with the SUV. It was a mistake. It resonated poorly with the public. Say “I’m sorry”.

4. From there, go to the ridiculous salaries. Public service is just that – – service – – even in paid positions. If Pam and Rick want to serve, great. They cant do it at private sector prices. Not in this economy.

5. Speaking of which, end the cozy relationships with the fire and police unions. You handled the fire audit poorly. Admit it publicly. PLEDGE THAT YOU WILL NO LONGER ACCEPT ANY CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE FIRE OR POLICE UNIONS. Encourage other public servants to pledge the same. THAT would be leadership . . . and could lead to the real kind of change this City craves and needs.

6. Stop acting like pools and libraries are sacred cows. Offer to cut ONE DAY a week from each. We’ll survive.

7. YOU ARE AN ENGINEER. WE GET IT. Don’t let us hear it (or your training) again.

8. See 7. Read it again.

9. Tell us again why you want to be Mayor. What is your vision for Omaha? How are you going to get us there? What will be asked of us, the citizens, along the way?

10. Go on the air with Tom Becka. Do a “live remote” beer summit, from the Dell. It would be great radio. If you can have a beer with the Fire Chief at McFly’s, you can have one with Becka on his home turf. Answer all his questions. And remember 1-9 when you do so.

10. Invite EACH City Councilperson to meet with you individually for coffee. Ask their concerns. Listen.

11. Ditch the harsh pinstriped suits for awhile. Ronald Reagan looked great in chocolate brown. A sportcoat and shirt will do just fine from time to time.

12. Ask for my vote. If you do 1-11, it’s yours. 11 is just my opinion; that’s free also.

I have another tip to add for Suttle: Demand that Nabity and the recall people come up with a specific budget proposal. The recall people owe the people of Omaha some answers. Where do they plan to cut the budget? Who will be laid off? It’s time for some specifics. These people owe the voters of Omaha their vision for the future.

The recall people owe nothing to anybody. Omaha is lucky they did what they did. Now it is on the candidates to get out their message. Oh and of course a moving van to usher suttle in co. out. Leave the keys to the Dodge though.

Why is everyone ignoring Dennis? Why can’t the recall people specify what they want to change, other than some vague complaints about fire fighters. I hope none of you ever experience a tragedy, but if you do I hope you call the fire department and not Dave Nabity, Hal Daub, or Jeremy Aspen to save your ass.

Anon 6:27 is right on the money. All of that can go a long way so the mayor can keep his job. But most of that requires humility. Have we ever seen that from Jim Suttle? Even when he admitted that the SUV was wrong he took credit for fixing it. The car dealer fixed it to help out the city and avoid the bad press he was getting.

I hope Suttle takes your advice 6:27. But he would have to change his spots. And that’s going to be very hard for him to do.

Dennis is ignored because he’s a one-note whiner who ignores the answers given to his question. The recall people specified that they wanted to give voters the option of changing our leadership and they’ve done that – they have no more obligation beyond that. Omaha voters will decide on Jan. 25 whether that action should be carried out. If the mayor is recalled, the council will appoint a temporary mayor and an election date will be set. Candidates will file, they can make their budget ideas known, an election will be held, a new mayor will be elected and that man or woman can THEN set a new budget.

Dennis keeps demanding over and over to know budget proposals NOW but it’s impossible to do that without having candidates in place – we don’t even know for sure if Suttle is gone. I can’t believe I’ve wasted this time and space explaining this to such a moron.

6:27, that’s an excellent list and would gain the mayor considerable support. But, yes, he’s going to do what he wants to do. When the budget problems became apparent, I know his office received hundreds of suggestions from people on how and where to cut – that happened at the town hall meetings, too. But even after all those meetings, the mayor said the overriding message he received was that people didn’t want any cuts in their services (ergo, taxes would be going up). At that point, I knew the mayor had no intention of listening to the people ever again.